BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg is listed as one of the broadcaster’s biggest earners for her well-known political work on the channel.

Laura Kuenssberg grills Labour minister on defence spending

Laura Kuenssberg has been a familiar face on the BBC since 2007 when she appeared as a correspondent on The Andrew Marr Show. Laura, now 48, later became the first woman to hold the position of Political Editor at BBC News in 2015, stepping down in 2022 and instead replacing Marr on his weekend political programme – now called Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Growing up in Glasgow and attending the University of Edinburgh, Laura actually takes the top spot for the highest paid Scot at the BBC with her incredible salary. When the broadcaster published its annual salary list in 2024, she was confirmed to be earning between £325,000 and £329,999, up from £305,000-£309,999 the previous financial year.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker topped the list, earning around £1.35million per year, while disgraced presenter Huw Edwards came third with a salary of between £475,000 and £479,999. Laura placed joint 12th overall in the list alongside Sophie Raworth.

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Laura Kuenssberg earns a whopping BBC salary (Image: Getty)

But that salary comes with a high price itself – and in 2017 Laura was assigned a bodyguard to help protect her in public. Attending the Labour Party conference that year, the star had threats levelled against her and was assigned a personal security guard for the event.

According to one BBC source who spoke to The Sun, it was a former soldier accompanying her to the conference in Brighton. They said: “We take the safety of our staff extremely seriously. Laura is a well-known public figure.

“She and her team will be covering events with big crowds where there can be hostility, so we want to ensure adequate precautions are taken.”

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The BBC star had a bodyguard in 2017 (Image: BBC)

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Labour MP Yvette Cooper said at the time she was “sick to death of the vitriol poured out from all sides towards Laura Kuenssberg. It is her [Laura’s] job to ask difficult questions. It is her job to be sceptical about everything we say. Nothing justifies the personal vitriol or the misogyny.”

Laura herself confessed: “I didn’t aspire to have the finger pointed at me. What they are trying to do is silence me.” She added: “No matter how unpleasant and personal it might be, it is not as bad as what other journalists face around the world in much more difficult circumstances.”